“As I was walking to get the vaccine, I actually just heard that my 27th patient had died, so yesterday was very emotional,” he said.
Briones-Pryor, who has worked at the Covid-19 wings of Louisville hospitals since March, shared in an interview Tuesday with CNN’s Dana Bash his experience with the vaccine, demonstrating the contrast between the hope the vaccine provides. with the stark reality of the pandemic it continued to spread.
Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine was shipped nationwide to hospitals and health agencies over the weekend. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was present when the first doses arrived at the University of Louisville Hospital on Monday morning and was visibly excited to call the vaccine “nothing short of a modern medical miracle.”
At that time, the hospital was suffering from a medical emergency. Briones-Pryor told CNN that he had taken a Covid-19 patient to intensive care the day before, and when he came out of the wing to receive the vaccine, an alert came out indicating that a patient was distressed.
“A nurse I was talking to said,‘ I hope it’s not her, ’” she said.
“When I was about to leave the apartment, they said to me and said,‘ Dr. Okay, he’s our patient. “And as I walked, they texted me and told me I couldn’t.”
Briones-Pryor said he appreciated the vaccine’s “hope” and said it had no side effects from the injection other than a mild pain in the upper arm. He urged people to remain diligent with social distancing, wearing masks and taking the vaccine when available.
“To really overcome this virus, we have to work together, which means we all have to do the right thing,” he said.
“We have to take care of each other if we want to get back to a certain sense of normalcy. That’s what I hope, but we can’t get there alone. We need your help.”